.]/. I /////.]/. 1 TK '. 1 1. SCIKXCES. 95 



mathematical works, which had a great success both during his lifetime 

 and after his death (Fig. 69). His researches upon the calendar and upon 

 triangulation were the basis of the remarkable labours of the Wurtemberg 

 astronomer, Stoffler (1452 1531), who can claim the honour of compiling 

 the great Roman Calendar (" Kalendarium Romanum magnum"). 



The teaching of mathematics was very brilliant at Naples during the 

 reign of Alfonso of Aragon, the Magnanimous (1415 1458). People came 

 thither from all parts to hear the Tuscan professor, Buonencontro, who, in his 

 double capacity of poet and orator, gave an unusual charm to the exposition 

 of the celestial phenomena, and who had the good fortune to allude openly 

 to astrology, and even to magic, without provoking the remonstrances or the 

 repression of the ecclesiastical authorities. These were the preludes of the 

 Reformation, which made its presence felt in science by proclaiming the right 

 of free examination before applying it to the dogmas of religion. It must 

 also be said that the Greek savants, who had emigrated into Europe, and 

 especially into Italy, after the occupation of Constantinople by the Turks, 

 brought with them more fondness and aptitude for the occult than for the 

 exact sciences. Several of these Greek savants had been received by 

 Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, who, in his admiration for the sciences, 

 gave the palm to astrology and alchemy ; and the observatory attached to his 

 palace at Buda was used less, for observing the position of the stars, and 

 studying the laws of their motions, than for seeking thereby to forecast the 

 future. His library was composed of the most rare and magnificent manu- 

 scripts, but a great part of them referred to alchemy and the philosopher's 

 stone. While harbouring these Greeks from Constantinople, who claimed to 

 be alchemists and astrologers, Matthias Corvinus also placed great confidence 

 in a true Italian savant, Fioravanti Alberti, who had little dealing with 

 astrology, and who applied almost exclusively to works of architecture and 

 design his profound knowledge of mathematics, and especially of geometry. 



At this epoch astrology was everywhere beginning to supplant astronomy. 

 There was not a sovereign or prince in Europe but had in his service an 

 astrologer, more or less able and crafty, who in many cases sailed under the 

 colours of a physician. King Louis XI. never arrived at any important 

 decision without having consulted his Neapolitan astrologer, Angelo Cattho 

 de Sopino, whom he created Archbishop of Vienne in Dauphiny, as a reward 

 for the accuracy of his sidereal predictions. The Emperor Maximilian was 



